Camera rolls, diaries, and resolutions

Camera rolls, diaries, and resolutions

Camera rolls, diaries, and resolutions…

What do my phone’s camera roll and my diary have in common? Well, it turns out a lot more than I thought. I’ve been super grinchy this holiday season – I didn’t want to do a witty and clever card, I had multiple issues with the tree, I didn’t even want to dress up for the Die Hard party (yep, that’s right, there’s an annual holiday costume party centered around the movie “Die Hard”). Every time my son asked if we could get an Elf on the Shelf I cringed, and, if I’m being perfectly honest, I’m currently hiding in bed writing this rather than getting ready for the Breakfast with Santa party they’ve been looking forward to for weeks. But while I’ve been hiding, I’ve been flipping through the pictures on my phone. I’m notorious for keeping thousands (literally over 4,000) at a time on my camera roll. Heck, I even send myself pictures from my “real” camera to keep on my phone so I can always have them handy. With my new phone, I’ve actively tried to keep it reasonable, and this morning I thought “I need to delete a few of these to bring it down to a nicer number.” So I started thinking about which pictures from the last 4 months I didn’t want anymore. Pictures of parties and time spent with my best friends?…no, I wanted those. My birthday and my boys helping me blow out my candles?…wanted those. My son’s 9th birthday with his brother and buddies?…total keepers. Random days full of normal things I found inspiring or beautiful?…absolutely saving those.

So what pictures, and really what memories, am I willing to part with? It turns out not many. And that’s ok. Does it matter to anyone else if I have a “reasonable amount” of pictures on my phone? No, because they remind me of my life and the people I love. My mom asked me the other day if I was going to do another 365 project and I literally groaned at the thought. But now I’m reconsidering it because what is life without a little documentation to remind you what you’ve done? I get very nervous when people take my phone and start looking through my pictures. Not because I have anything to hide on there, but because for me it really is a visual diary. Some pictures remind me of happy times, some help me remember the sad things I’ve overcome, and some just make me laugh. There are images that are never meant to see the light of day, and to try and explain why they are so important would be awkward for both me and the listener. But the point is that I have those images and they trigger a memory I want to keep.

So as we come upon the time of year where we consider making resolutions to improve ourselves, I encourage everyone not only to take pictures of who, and what, is important to you every day, but also to take the time to look at them and remember.

(Plus, thousands of pictures really do help when you do decide to throw a card together a week before Christmas…)